The “right-to-work” states are indicated in red, and the pro-labor states in white:

Compare that map with this map indicating the state unemployment rates reported on December 18, 2015:

In the Ohio House, legislation has been introduced to impose “right-to-work” restrictions on private-sector unions, with the primary argument for the measure being the now very tired assertion that pro-labor states cannot compete economically with “right-to-work” states—that pro-labor states are at a decided disadvantage in attracting job-creating companies.

A comparison of these two maps provides no support for those claims.

Such a comparison also does not support the assertion that Ohio cannot compete with adjacent states that have recently passed “right-to-work” legislation: Indiana and Wisconsin are doing only very marginally better in terms of employment and Michigan is doing worse.

Moreover, look at the job-creation statistics that have just been reported:

Table D. States with statistically significant employment changes from November 2014…

I am writing this on the evening of 9th December in the USA, but in Hong Kong it is already the morning of 10th December. At this moment labor and human rights activists are converging on the Western Police Station in Hing Kong to demand that the Mainland Chinese authorities in neighboring Guangdong Province release several labor rights activists rounded up over the last few days.

December 10th is International Human Rights Day, intended to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Chinese authorities, panicked by an accelerating wave of actions by workers protesting factory closures and non-payment of wages, are trying to stifle workers’ desperate defensive protests by detaining labor rights activists and closing worker rights centers.

This is no trivial matter. The Pearl River Delta on the mainland opposite Hong Kong represents the…

In an editorial titled “Don’t Pick a New Fight: After Repeal of Senate Bill 5, Ohio Doesn’t Need Another Labor Battle,” the editors of the Columbus Dispatch, a newspaper not known for its support of labor unions, have publicly discouraged the members of the Ohio House from passing HB 377, which would impose “right-to-work” restrictions on private-sector unions in Ohio.

Here are some highlights from the editorial:

“Pragmatically, it is hard to believe this bill stands a chance. The temperature of the state hasn’t changed much since 2011, when Senate Bill 5 took a drubbing, 62 to 38 percent, in a ballot referendum.

“Legislative leaders already are said to be cool to the bill. They realize little would be gained by handing organized labor such a golden issue at a time when Ohio’s job numbers are up, the nation is entering another presidential cycle with Ohio as a battleground…